Ramblings from Oz

Monday, August 30, 2010

Do we really need any other reason to scream, "NO!" at the top of our lungs?

No matter what happens, Barry wins, here.

If the bill doesn't go through, regardless of who voted for it, he'll just claim it was Republican obstruction, or what have you, and get away with it. If it does pass, well, the Pachs are in it for socialism too, ya see, so no complaining.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Get ready

Helicopter Ben is giving a speech today, as the Fed Chairman does periodically, and so what he's going to say should be pretty much a given to those who know and follow such things. However, considering the news for the last month (the last two years, really, but who's keeping score anyway?), with all the hullabaloo regarding the imminent 'double dip recession', jobs lost, retirement savings being consumed by an evaporating stock market, everyone seems to be all-ears, sitting a bit more upright than usual, anticipating themselves hanging on every word he'll utter.

It'll all be bullshit anyway.

As previously mentioned, we are now a 'Mickey Mouse economy', and China KNOWS IT. They are making moves at protecting themselves from the blow that is coming if the value of the dollar takes a bigger hit than expected, especially if the news coming from Benny isn't very good for the markets.

The US Dollar is, right now, being replaced in financial centers, like Hong Kong. The ball is now rolling at replacing it with a new reserve currency. China is calling the shots on this now, and for good reason, they are the ones with the big, and comparatively at least, vibrant economy.

Get this; the US Dollar has now lost the faith it once had with commodity traders around the world. Your goods, oil and most other raw materials will be traded for Chinese money soon, not Dollars.

Why?

I quote WRSA,

"the PRC is positioning itself as a primary heir to American hegemony as our country continues to spiral towards disaster." [emphasis - Ed.]

Do you speak Mandarin or Cantonese? It may be useful in the not too distant future.

Comedy, Dark Humor or outright Horror?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Via Sipsey Street, linking to a piece out of Yahoo! News we find that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled (I use that term purposely and in the gravest sense of the word, here) that the government can track your movements, without warrant and without your knowledge, and by whatever means they may see fit, including tagging your vehicles, while parked on YOUR OWN PROPERTY, with GPS devices.

Repeat after me: Huxley, Orwell and Bradbury. How prescient those men were.

This might be what does it. The event horizon is within plain view, as the ball is squarely within the Gummint's court at this point. They no longer need be constrained by the idea that something they are doing might be illegal or even inadmissible in any court. They've been handed a carte blanche at this point, and the Fourth Amendment (and by way of that - ALL the others) can easily be excised from the Constitution, though I've had my doubts about the veracity of that document as it applies to the fucking Gummint, for some time now.

I will no longer be surprised at anything that happens from this moment forward.

My new recommendation for materials to acquire for the collapse; Concrete and rebar.

Let's quit pissing around and get the ball rolling, shall we? This entire administration, and let's just throw Congress into that lot too, is so arrogant to sincerely think that they are all 10' tall and bulletproof anyway, so why is it that they'd believe they couldn't, as they're obviously completely drunk from drinking, nonstop, at the Gummint Power Well™.

Keep up that pushing, Barry, there are people out there who are keeping score on this. Then again, maybe he's counting on this blowing up at just the right time. Anyone notice the "deadline" on accepting or rejecting the petition from the Eco-Loons? Calling that an October surprise might be a serious stretch, but remember, wars have been started over more frivolous issues.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

"What it is to be an American"

I was over at YankeePrepper's channel, listening to some of his thoughts on various topics, when I ran across a vid about, presumably, the "NWO" and clicked it. Not because I wanted to see some secretive ramblings about who or what the supposed New World Order kooks thought (not that YankeePrepper is a kook), but more as something that was going to give me a chuckle about conspiracy theories or something similar.

I got one of the best surprises of my life.

Dennis Prager gave a response to a question from the moderator at a debate and speech at the University of Denver, from earlier this year, and he laid down some stuff that is eye-opening about the current state of affairs and the reasons for us, as a nation, having lost our way.

Listen carefully to what he is saying from about :27 to 2:40.

It's all just too much to handle at once, as there are several vectors that are touched on, but the essence of what he is saying is right on.

He, in no small part, blames the fundamental shift in our education system for instilling, programming and indoctrinating the last three or four generations of this country with a different, and decidedly non-American, value system.

There is certainly more to it than just that, but the fundamental is right there, at its very core, "...A society does not survive if it does not have a reason to survive...we have the lost the why [to survive]..."

This is the question to be answered by this country, and I'm afraid we are failing.

Monday, August 23, 2010

This "Auto IRA" isn't anything more than another ponzi scheme, similar to social security.

Here's how it will work.

The system is setup, hiring thousands of workers to administer the program (and the usual claim about making jobs will accompany this, which aren't actually contributing any value, BTW), which will be another line item on everyone's paycheck.

This will be pulled out and deposited in the general fund of the U.S. Treasury, whereby some form of I.O.U. is written, via bonds or some other "device," so labeled by the Treasury, for future redemption.

The MONEY, yes, the new withholding from your pay, that has now been directly STOLEN, will go toward funding whatever whim the politicians care to come up with, and with Barry and His Enabling Crew now at the helm, they WILL come up with something.

After this system has been up and running for, say, several years, another law will be passed that amends the first part, forcing your previous earnings and monies into the "new" account, further boosting the government lie about somehow "balancing" their spending.

I can hear the opposition calling this kind of straight-talk a "scare tactic," as "stealing" isn't something that can be done to something that is enshrined and protected by law, right? They'd be right about the scare tactic angle, but that doesn't mean that it isn't true, and the politicians could do it outright, since Congress is the body that establishes law, and created the 401(k) entity in the first place.

Do you get it yet?

They've established a law, first as something that is both voluntary and to address an issue with regard to how income can and will be taxed.

Next step, adjust the amounts, dates and rules by which those funds can be withdrawn, and tax the "offenders" more for pulling out their own money.

Next step, take that money for an IOU.

It's a bullshit, barely veiled threat at the lives of each and every person in this country.

Anyone want to bet what things will look like in this country, in just a few years if this gets passed?

Friday, August 20, 2010

I can't ever remember not being interested in automobiles, their design, engineering and figuring out ways of making them go faster.

It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that I do all of the preventative maintenance on the family vehicles, and almost all repairs, the few that ever crop up (knock on wood).

So changing the engine oil is something that I've come to do out of habit, and I do it religiously. When I bought the Subaru wagon, 5 years ago, I did a few cycles with a name branded conventional oil that I've used for longer than I can remember, and switched over to a full synthetic after I was convinced that the engine had its rings good and seated. There is probably more myth to that sequence and timing described than fact, but I've done enough reading and jawing with others I trust to not deviate from my way of thinking. I want it to survive for at least fifteen years, so that's why it's getting the royal treatment.

Synthetic oil is expensive. I've always known that and it became quite painful enough, thankyouverymuch, when my girlfriend (now wife) purchased her then new car about nine years ago and I made the promise to her that I'd look after the mechanicals for her. This included doing the same schtick as outlined earlier. Five quarts at about six bucks each plus a decent filter brought the usual costs to about forty dollars or so, and that was done about four times annually.

Then we moved to the sticks after getting married, and I started driving 315 miles, minimum, each week, to and from work, often more if I needed to avoid construction or the latest organ donor program on the highway. My trusty '96 Nissan D21 was getting the wheels driven off of her in a big way, and changing the oil every two months has been pretty much the norm now for about the last seven and a half years.

I've told you all of that so I could tell you this; I've always used the same oil in her, Quaker State™ 5W-30 oil and a Wix™ brand filter. This is hardly the most expensive combination of consumables on the market for this sort of thing, but they aren't cheap either. I've had great luck with this combination in every vehicle that I've ever owned and not had any failures with lubrication as a result. I'll be damned if I'm going to change it now, with 210,000 miles on the odometer.

The last time I went to the auto parts store to stock up, I grabbed a case of oil. The same I've used for years. That's twelve quarts, or three gallons. That's not quite enough to do that change three times, but I know that I've got to do it those three times at about an eight week interval, so it's not going to last all that long.

The cashier rings me up.

Two filters and one case of oil.

The bill came out to about $65.

I looked at the receipt and about shat my pants. No kidding here, that case of oil was ALMOST FIFTY GOD-DAMNED DOLLARS!!!

I became determined to find a more cost effective solution about thirty minutes later.

About a week later, I found it at a place I hate going. China-Mart (you know who I'm referencing) has a five quart jug of the exact same product for about eleven dollars. That's about HALF the price of what the auto parts stores charge for the same stuff.

S.O.L.D.

I now have four jugs on the lubricant shelf in the garage.

It behooves everyone to fight the insipid inflation in this nascent depression, that's being obviously flagged now, on a daily basis over at SurvivalBlog, by doing their own post on ways they've discovered to reduce costs on similar or same items.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

The attached AP story about what the President's supposed faith is, is not the question, here, though I DO think that more people, if this survey is to be believed, are waking up to the reality of the situation.

This was the part that sticks in my craw,

"The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center..."

is a bunch of HORSESHIT.

The Pew Research Center is a wholly-owned part of The Pew Charitable Trusts, which is about the largest, most Leftist organization in the entire fucking free world, and I don't need some journo-flunky blowing smoke up my ass, telling me how unbiased they are, regardless of what the statement on their website might say.

I could set up a website claiming to be J.C. himself, but that wouldn't necessarily make it so, now would it?

I used to think that the lawyers should be one of the first to get the knife when the implosion gets going, but now, I'm changing my tune. Journalists are making big gains on my shit list.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The article is just dripping with sanctimonious finger-wagging horseshit.

Get this straight, there is no such thing as "Clean Energy."

It must be produced from either burning coal (specifically, in this case), natural gas or oil, OR you build a nuclear reactor. In either case, you will still be using the resultant heat generated to power a turbine(s) to get your juice.

The "alternatives" aren't all that useful, and still require the use of metals (mined and processed from the ground, with ALL of the drawbacks of any type of mine), plastics (more oil) and, this is the elephant in the room, close proximity to the end-user.

Power transmission isn't something that can, practically anyway, be accomplished from thousands of miles away, regardless of generation method, and MORE SO with shit like wind and absolutely with solar.

Get this muddle-headed "thinking" out of your dim heads, and right now; if you want juice in this country, and you want it without having to tend your very own systems and you want as much as you can use at any point in time, live with the fact that you are going to be using the juice made from burning a fucking rock.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Message to the brethren

Learn this term; Buckwheat.

It's a slang term that, I believe, came about during the American liquor gangster era, and was derisive in its name because of it's frequent use in murdering members of a certain ethnic group, by shooting them while the muzzle was inserted into the rectum.

The only reason I can think of to use this method would be to muffle the report of the discharge (you'll see where this fits in after reading the link), but having a side effect of inflicting an excruciating, and somewhat slow death, as the tissues in that portion of the body tend to bleed you out over the course of 15 to 30 minutes. Nasty way to die, innit?

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Frankly, any sane person who's been paying attention to the current and devolving state of world affairs would know this, but it bears to be mentioned that even the Commies at CNBC are willing to allow such forthright statements, from the likes of plain-speaking investors, and from a market that he should know something about;

"America today looks like Russia in 1998. Consumers, companies and the government are all highly indebted. America as a result is a bankrupt Mickey Mouse economy,"

Says Jochen Wermuth of Wermuth Asset Management, a company that specializes in investment funds in eastern Europe and Russia. He also notes,

"The big evil for the IMF in Russia in 1998 was the prospect of the central bank funding government debt. The Fed (The Federal Reserve, Ed.) is now even buying mortgage-backed securities,"

in an effort at propping up the profligate spending of Congress through, essentially, printing more money and "backing" that new, fake cash with real commodities that are owned, at least partially, by banks and lenders.

It's a house of cards, an IOU for the future (lives, fortunes and production of others) to pay off, and everyone should know that by now, as Wurmuth continues;

"US credit risk is huge and America has two options, either default or let the currency depreciate substantially against currencies such as the yuan and the rouble,"

and I'd bet on that depreciation angle, as that is exactly what is happening, right fucking now.

It's a mess here, and it's a product of our own government. I can't see anything other than a protracted, internecine conflict, with the possibility of outright civil war being fought over this debacle. The gulf is too wide to bridge, both in terms of any real chance at paying down the debt owed to China, as well as the philosophical one within our own borders.

So, ask yourself if you have your shit together about securing your future. I know I'm worried.

Monday, August 09, 2010

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Krauters taking a bloody nose for actions such as this.

Not that I'd say they are necessarily incorrect with their intel and assumptions, but the modern jihad movement is anything but forgetful. They'll have to make their displeasure known at the interruption of their plans.

Friday, August 06, 2010

Look down to the bottom for the list of "Yea's," then confirm that all save one Donk, in lock-step form, voted in favor of confirmation, along with two Independents and and three RINO's (shocker on those, too).

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Here is all anyone needs to know about the situation, regardless of what you may think of civil unions, same-sex or "gay" marriages;

"Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker made his ruling in a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who claimed the voter-approved ban violated their civil rights." (my emphasis)

This kind of thing in NOT up for a vote. It is the same, just as your right to free speech is not up for a vote, nor is your right to keep and bear arms, nor is anything else that you may want or do as a free person, up for a vote from the fucking mobocracy.

Get it?

You might not like it, but that is too fucking bad. That is what freedom is about, leaving people the fuck alone to do as they want, without being a fucking busy-body asshole about others' private business.